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NYC – Greenwich Village: Electric Lady StudiosImage by wallyg
Designed by De Stijl member and Juliard’s then theater director, Frederick Kiesler, 52 West 8th Street’s first occupant was the Film Guild Cinema, which opened in 1929. Shortly after, Rudy Valley’s country-western nightclub, the Village Barn, opened in the basement where it honky-tonked for 30-plus years. Hans Hoffman, father of the "push pull" color theory and abstract expressionism, lived, painted and taught here from 1938 to 1958.

When The Generation Club, which replaced the Village Barn closed in 1968, Jimi Hendrix and his manager, Mike Jeffrey, bought the space for k with the intention of turning it into a club of their own. His accountant, however, convinced him that owning a studio would be more fiscally sound–predating the Beatles’ Abbey Road in an era when label owned and operated studios were the norm. Hendrix commissioned an upstart out of Princeton, John Storyk to architect the studio with the instructions for "soft", "curvaceous" and wherever possible "no right angles." Storyk would go one to develop over 2,000 studios, radio stations, clubs and theaters.

Construction lasted nearly twice as long and cost twice as much as expected, but Hendrix didn’t wait to start tracking recordings. Nearly 30 songs were recorded prior during this time, including most of "First Rays of the New Rising Sun" and hours of jams with Steve Winwood and Chris Wood of Traffic. Electric Lady Studios officially opened on August 26, 1970. That same night, Jimi left for England to play the Isle Wright Festival and only thirteen days later, was pronounced dead at the age of 27.

Under Director of Engineering, Eddie Kramer, Electric Lady would go on to be one of the premier recording spots of the early 70’s with artists like Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Curtis Mayfield, David Bowie, John Lennon, Peter Frampton, Diane Warwick, Carley Simon, Kiss, Billy Coham, and Lena Horne taking up residence.

In the 1970’s, the 8th Street Playhouse took over the space upstairs, dedicated to independent film like its predecessor. It became the first true "screening" theater…no curtains or stage, just a screen. It also became the first theater to offer a midnight film seven days a week. By its closing in 1992, it was perhaps most famous for its 15 year-run of twice-weekly midnight screenings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Today the space is divided between indepndent video rental store, TLA Video, and off-Broadway theater, The Independent. TLA stands for the Theater of Living Arts and was founded by Andre Gregory of My Dinner with Andre.